WWII fighter 'P' designation

General Discussion General Modeling Discussion
1

US WWII fighter aircraft were usually known by a number prefixed with the letter P and also sometimes a name.
(eg: P51 Mustang and P47 Thunderbolt and so on)

Can anyone explain the P designation?

I have never found any explanation as to why it is P

Many thanks,

Cheers, Pete.

2

P was the designation given to figher aircraft during and prior to WWII. It stood for “Pursuit”. the F- for Fighter designation came about in 1947.

3

Thanks for the quick and informative reply Keyworth.
Cheers, Pete.

4

Cool. What does the F-designations mean during WW2?

We had all the Grumman “cats”, the F2F thru F8F, and the unforgettable F4U.
Thanks

5

Kustom
The first “F” means “Fighter” The second “F” was the governments designation for Grumman All the aircraft companies had a letter designation It was the letter after the number.usually…
G = Goodyear
D = Douglas
U = Vought
C = Curtiss
Sometime the desigating letter was the companies initial sometime it was not.

Dave

6

And the ‘F’ was the US Navy designation for fighters. The Army Air Core and Navy used different naming conventions for their aircraft.

PBY = Patrol Bomber (the Catalina) and the ‘Y’ was Consolidated Aircraft Manufacturer ID code

PB4Y = A Consolidated B-24 bomber used by the Navy. The ‘4’ meant is was the 4th PB type used by the Navy

SBD = Scout Bomber made by Douglas (the Dauntless)
SB2C = 2nd Scout Bomber type, made by Curtiss (The Helldiver)

The Navy and Air Force began using the same naming system by the time F4 Phantom jets were being used by both services.

7

Thats pretty cool, I never really thought about the P. I always knew the F , but never the C U D Y E I E I O …[:D] So, what do the letter designations on ground vehicles stand for?

8

Well if you are talking about … say… a M-35 Duece, the M means military.
If it is Air Force, as in 95B3456,

95 is the year
B is the management code
and 3456 is the numerical order of puchase, meaning it was the 3,456th vehicle purchased in 1995.

management codes:

B - general pupose vehicles and equipment
C-specialty trucks
D-construction equipment
E-material handling
K- military vehicles
L- Fire fighting, refueling
W-miscellaneous
X- unit purchased and maintained vehicles

Wroper

9

The F used by the Army Air Forces in WWII designated ‘Foto’ for recon. The F-5 was a photo P-38 and the F-6 was a photo Mustang.